Realizations
by SPT
Summary: The team finds out what's been happening to Jonas, realizations ensue. Season 6, set after Redemption Part 2.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Realizations**

**Rating: K+, some violence and language**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to Stargate: SG-1 or it's characters.**

**Summary: The team finds out what's been happening to Jonas, realizations ensue.**

He'd fought back initially, course that had only served to piss them off more, but now he was just attempting to make himself as small as possible. The episodes hadn't lasted this long in the past, he couldn't help but wonder what had changed.

He got his answer when one of the men hauled him to his feet and leaned in toward his ear. "Just because you got assigned to SG-1 does not mean that anyone likes you." The statement was accentuated with a fist to his kidney. "Hell, all anyone around here talks about is how much they hate you. The only thing you're good for is that stuff you brought through the gate with you."

Jonas grunted around the rag in his mouth as several more blows landed on his face and torso. The gag was making it extremely difficult to catch his breath. He longed to defend himself, but he couldn't summon the energy to fight against the two pairs of hands that trapped his arms anymore.

A second voice replaced the first in his ear. "The only reason you even got that assignment was because O'Neill would rather have some scum-sucking traitor on his team than a fing Russian. I heard him say he was hoping you would get shot on your first mission so that he could leave you to a slow, painful death." He smiled at the gasp he received when his foot crashed into the front of their captive's knee, forcing it to hyperextend.

Jonas's heart hit the pit of his stomach at those words. How could he have believed that his help saving Earth or his confrontation with the Col by the elevator had been responsible for his new assignment? People here would never see him as anything but the man responsible for Dr Jackson's death, and nothing he could do would ever be good enough to change that opinion.

"Hey guys, what do you say we do Col O'Neill a favor?" The heavily muscled man flashed his knife in Jonas's face.

One of his three friends, Jonas wasn't coherent enough to tell which one, piped up, "Hell yeah, but we can't kill him."

"Oh, we won't, we'll just make sure he's moving a little slower on that first mission, make target practice a little easier on those Jaffa." He was thoroughly enjoying the look of unadulterated fear in the alien's eyes. "Anyone finds out about this, and you will die a very slow and messy death, understand? We may just have to hurt whoever you tell too."

Jonas had done his best to keep quiet throughout the beating, not wanting to anger his attackers further, but he couldn't help the scream that was ripped from him as the knife was dragged in a slow, deliberate arc across his ribcage and chest. Blood immediately began seeping from the long wound. He wasn't prepared when his attackers let go of him and he collapsed to the concrete floor with a very undignified grunt. The hardness of the floor only increased the number of pain signals his brain was desperately trying to sort through.

He waited until he heard the door to the locker room slam shut before he even attempted to move. The first order of business was to yank the filthy rag from his mouth. That done, he was able to make it to his hands and one knee with much difficulty, his other knee refused to bare any weight. He crawled to the small alcove at the far end of the lockers that he had found the first time this had happened. He knew he couldn't make it back to his room right now, and he didn't want to risk involving anyone else.

It was always the same men, and they always seemed to know when he was alone late at night. Not that he wasn't alone all day, everyday anyway. He usually tried to be in his quarters with the door locked before the halls emptied for the night, but a lot of nights he'd get caught up in some work without realizing how late it'd gotten. They usually only detained him long enough to do some damage and re-iterate how much everyone hated him. This was the seventh attack in the three months he'd been on Earth; he'd actually become rather adapt at making up stories to cover his visible injuries. Anyone that bothered to ask now thought he was the biggest klutz in the universe. He also found that people were much more likely to believe his stories if he smiled during the explanation.

So that had become his new thing, he smiled to cover up the physical and emotional anguish.

Upon reaching the alcove, he slumped against the wall and gently lifted the material of his t-shirt to examine the knife wound. The crawl to the alcove had increased the blood flow from the laceration, Jonas shrugged out of the shirt and used it to try to stem the flow. It looked like he was going to have to learn to do stitches on himself; he'd never be able to pass the knife would off as anything else.

Jonas caught his breath as a familiar deep voice rang through the locker room, he quickly backed into the darkest corner of the alcove. Teal'c had actually been kinda nice to him, there was no way Jonas was going to endanger his life by involving him in this.

It turned out that Teal'c wasn't alone, Ferretti's team had entered the locker room with him. A deep longing for acceptance settled in as he watched Teal'c laughing and joking (as much as he ever did) with the marines, what he wouldn't give to be a part of that.

The feeling of disorientation and detachment brought his attention back to the blood that was washing down his chest. He knew that he was loosing too much of it, but he couldn't bring himself to call out to Teal'c. His last thought before the darkness overtook his was that it might just be best for everyone if he just let himself die right here.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Jack O'Neill groaned when he caught sight of his dashboard clock, he was late. He preferred to get out of the locker room before all the other teams reported for duty at 0600, there just wasn't enough room in there for a lot of people. If he hurried he might have five minutes of relative peace and quiet.

Jack wrapped a towel around himself as he headed out of the shower area, at least he'd had hot water. An inconsistency in the concrete floor near the sinks caught his eye as he moved toward his locker, that was new. A closer inspection revealed that the inconsistency was a small, tacky pool of blood.

O'Neill tried to force the hairs on the nape of his neck back down. Someone had probably just cut themself shaving, but a look to his right revealed several smaller splotches leading away from the original. Following the trail to the alcove, he was barely able to make out a form in the far corner. He knew he wouldn't be able to do anything for the man if he couldn't see, so he ran back to his locker for a flash light.

SG-4 entered the locker room and were slightly confused to see Jack disappearing into the alcove with a flashlight. They were even more surprised when he reappeared two seconds later calling for a med team.

Jack sank to his knees next to the pale shivering form, his injured ligaments complained but he ignored them. "Jonas, come on, rise and shine buddy." His eyes took in the bruises covering the young man's upper body and the hand that was feebly clutching a t-shirt to the bloody cut on his chest. Jonas's skin was ice cold under Jack's hands, but he sighed with relief when his eyes fluttered open.

Jonas looked up at his new CO with glazed eyes, unable to hide the fear that he was feeling. "Did you come to finish the job?"

O'Neill didn't get a chance to respond as he was shoved out of the way by Dr. Fraiser and her team. What the hell had he meant by 'was he there to finish the job'? Of course, that question took second place to 'what SOB had done this to the kid'? Jonas wasn't exactly his favorite person, but no one deserved this. He was surprised that Janet hadn't started questioning him yet, not that he had any answers for her.

He watched in silence as they loaded the young alien onto a stretcher and rushed off toward the infirmary. Janet stayed behind to speak to Jack, "you'd better find Sam and Teal'c, they'll want to know about this." She left him and hurried after the stretcher.

"Yeah." This type of thing just wasn't supposed to happen while they were on Earth.


	2. Chapter 2

Carter looked up at the abrupt knock on her lab door. Seeing Jack standing there wasn't unusual, but his shell-shocked expression was. "What's wrong sir?"

Jack drew in a deep breath and tried to force down his anger and frustration. "Jonas was attacked in the locker room last night. I just found him, he's in pretty rough shape."

Sam was off her chair and out the door before he could get another word out. Jonas had grown on her the last couple of days during the Anubis crisis. He was nice, brilliant, eager to learn, and he genuinely wanted to help in any way he could. If she was being honest with herself, she knew that he was in no way responsible for Daniel's absence. Even if Jonas had been the one to go into the room, Daniel would have been two steps behind him.

She rushed into the infirmary only to stop dead in her tracks. "Where is he?"

One of the passing nurses looked up and made a quick assumption, "Mr. Quinn has been taken to x-ray, he should be back in a few more minutes."

Sam slumped into a near by chair to wait. Teal'c and Jack filled the chairs next to her before Jonas was brought back. Jack only managed to stay seated for about twenty seconds before he jumped to his feet with a growl. "When I find the lousy SOB that did this to him, I'm gonna…" he trailed off, unsure of how to finish the thought.

"I believe you will have to share that privilege Col. O'Neill. However, that may prove easy as I believe that more than one individual is to blame for this."

Sam shot him a surprised look, "what makes you say that, Teal'c?" Jonas was a scientist and a diplomat, not a fighter, and most of the base personnel had extensive hand-to-hand training.

"JonasQuinn and I have been conducting our workouts together for the last month. He has become quite proficient at defending himself. I believe it would have taken more than one attacker to inflict such damage."

O'Neill and Carter had time to let that thought sink in as Jonas's stretcher was brought back into the room. They took in his condition as Janet and her nurses got him settled. A neat row of sterry strips crossed his black and blue chest, a couple more covered smaller cuts on his forehead and cheek. They watched with concern as two of the medical staff wrapped his leg in a hip-to-ankle knee brace. It took another fifteen minutes before the staff appeared happy with their work and Janet came over to speak to them.

"We're lucky you found him when you did Col., he was in shock and wouldn't have lasted much longer without treatment. He'll probably be out for awhile yet due to the blood loss and head injury." This was not how Janet had planned on starting her day. However, she was deliriously happy that she'd had the foresight to have Jonas give blood when he'd first arrived, his body was not compatible with their blood. Jonas may be human, but there was still many differences between him and people from Earth.

"What's wrong with his knee?"

Janet sank into the chair Jack offered her, 0700 and she was already exhausted. "Fractured patella," she caught Jack's confused look, "They broke his knee cap, Col. The x-rays showed a couple of newly broken ribs and evidence of some partially healed fractures. He was lucky, there was no major internal damage."

"Are you implying that this was not the first attack, Dr.Fraiser?"

"I wouldn't be surprised Teal'c." Janet thought back to the couple of times she'd seen bruises on Jonas's face and arms, he'd always explained them off with a smile so she hadn't paid too much attention. "Some of this bruising looks to be at least a week old."

Jack was back on his feet pacing the infirmary, he kept shooting glares at Jonas's bed. It made him irate that the kid had suffered through this in silence, not trusting them enough to say anything about it. From the looks on Teal'c and Sam's faces', they were thinking the same thing. "Did you guys ever notice anything like this?"

Sam chewed on her lip in frustration, how could she have missed something like this. "I saw him with some pretty nasty bruises and a limp a couple of days after he got here. He told me that he wasn't used to earth showers and had slipped, he was smiling so I didn't think anything of it. I just assumed he was a klutz."

"That's Jonas, always smiling." Jack suddenly had to wonder if the smile actually meant the kid was happy or if he used it for another reason.

"I too have observed JonasQuinn with injuries, I also believed that he was just uncoordinated."

Counting to ten stopped working for Jack at that point, and he let some of the anger he was feeling come to the surface. "Teal'c, you've got first watch. I'll relieve you at 1000, Carter you're in at 1300 hours. Let's concentrate on protecting Jonas and finding these idiots." He turned and stalked off in search of the security footage from the night before.

Sam and Teal'c shared a look, surprised that Jack had taken a watch. Since when had he cared about Jonas? In the last three months he'd made it perfectly clear to everyone on base that the Kelownan was not on his list of friends.

"Did I miss something?"

Teal'c's only replay was a shrug of his shoulders as he pulled a chair over to Jonas's bed.

Sam headed back to her office, trying to think of anyone who would want to hurt Jonas. Stepping out of the elevator she nearly ran head long into Lt. Collins from SG-14. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the black puffiness surrounding his left eye. "Whoa, rough mission Lt?"

Collins nervously fingered the fresh bruise, "Uh, no ma'am, just got a little carried away sparring with Lt Wilson last night." He quickly ducked around her and into the elevator.

Sam shook her head briefly at his strange behavior before something clicked in her head. Random bruises accompanied by nervous explanations seemed to be the new trend. She immediately changed direction and headed toward the security office; it was just a hunch, but it was better than anything else they had right now.

Jack had just gotten the security tape cued up when she walked in the door. Checking the time signature, he angrily realized that the kid had been laying there for nearly four hours before Jack found him. No wonder he'd been so cold. "Check it out, does he look like he's rushing to you?"

Sam watched the video for a minute, not only did Jonas look like he was in a hurry, he kept looking over his shoulder apprehensively. "Do you think they usually got him in the locker room, sir?" She quieted as four masked men entered the frame. Sam and Jack watched in horror as the four men grabbed Jonas, shoved a gag in his mouth and began beating on him. Sam's suspicions were confirmed when Jonas freed his arm long enough to let loose with a solid right hook, catching the man closest to him, a man who just happened to be the same general size and shape as Lt Collins.

Jack felt a small stab of pride as Jonas fought back with some moves he'd obviously learned from Teal'c; he'd have to thank the big guy later. But his heart sank when Jonas finally went down under the onslaught and curled into a small ball on the floor. Jack's anger grew the more he watched, especially when the attackers began whispering in the kid's ear. He didn't even want to think about what they were saying; the look of pure anguish on Jonas's face was bad enough.

"Sir, I believe that Lt Collins from SG-14 is one of the men on the tape. I ran into him getting off the elevator, he's got a rather nasty new shiner."

Jack was up and out the door the second she finished, leaving Sam to chase after him. She managed to grab a couple of SFs along the way. She wanted to hurt these guys even more than Jack did, but killing Collins meant way too much paper work.

Jack knew that SG-14 was scheduled to go off-world in twenty minutes so odds were that Collins was back at the scene of the crime. He barged into the men's locker room looking like the devil himself, stopping briefly to scan the room for his prey. The Lt never knew what hit him as he was spun around and knocked to the floor by a left hook. "Now you've got a matching pair."

Sam and the SFs collected Collins before O'Neill could do any more. "Take him to interrogation one, and don't let him talk to anyone." Jack started to follow, but Sam stopped him. "Sir, it's your turn to relieve Teal'c, I'll go inform the General."

Jack knew she was right, but he really wanted to do more damage. He allowed Carter to steer him out the door and toward the infirmary.

Sitting down with time to think was the last thing he wanted right now, but Jonas was a member of his team and he would take his watch. It didn't look like Teal'c had moved since Jack had left the infirmary nearly three hours earlier. "How's he doing?"

Teal'c looked up, "his condition has not changed."

"There's someone in interrogation one that you might want to have a conversation with." He tried not to wince at the look that came to Teal'c's eyes.

"You are correct, I am most anxious to speak with this individual."

"Just make sure you leave enough of him to court-martial," he threw over his shoulder as he settled into the chair that Teal'c had just vacated.


	3. Chapter 3

Jonas looked much better than he had when Jack found him in the alcove, he actually had some color and his skin wasn't ice cold. It suddenly occurred to Jack to wonder why he'd gotten so angry when he found the kid had been hurt; thinking was definitely never a good idea with him. He tried to tell himself he only cared because Jonas was now a member of his team.

Geez, talk about the SG-1 curse, kid hadn't even been on the team a full twenty-four hours and he was already a guest of the infirmary.

Truth be told, Jack knew he didn't dislike Jonas nearly as much as he tried to tell himself and he'd hadn't blamed Jonas for Daniel's death for a long time now. Sure, the kid wasn't his favorite person, no one should have _that_ much energy, but he was actually a good guy. Jack had been fairly impressed with how he'd helped during the whole stargate-turned-bomb thing.

Something else triggered in the Col's brain as he thought back to finding Jonas that morning. The kid had looked truly terrified when he'd realized that it was Jack leaning over him, and what was that comment about 'finishing the job'? As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to scare the Kelownan since he'd come through the gate. Hell, he'd barely spoken two words to the kid since then.

And maybe that was the problem.

Jack was brought from his thoughts when Jonas began to stir. He quickly took the hand lying on top of the blanket and gave it an encouraging squeeze. He held his breath as Jonas's eyes blinked open and settled on him. Damn, there was that fear again. Jack was caught off-guard when Jonas snatched his hand away.

Jonas squeezed his eyes shut at the sudden pain his movement had caused. His muddled brain was working overtime trying to figure out why the Col was sitting with him and better yet, why he'd been holding his hand. "What are you doing here sir?" His attempt to make his voice sound strong failed miserably.

"I wanted to be here if you woke up, you kinda had my worried this morning. Carter and Teal'c have been here too."

Jonas knew he was fading fast, but he really wanted an answer to his question. "Why, you hate me, want me dead. –said they were doing you a favor-"

"What?!"

His outburst startled everyone in the infirmary except Jonas, who was already out again. Janet threw a scathing glare in his direction, silently chastising him for waking her other patients.

Well, that explains a lot, he thought as he righted the chair that he'd knocked over during his outburst. He felt another spike of anger as he realized he now had his answer to what the attackers had been whispering in the kid's ear. _And its all your fault_, his inner voice taunted. If he'd even said one nice thing to Jonas, this may never have happened, he might have felt comfortable enough to come forward when it'd all started. If he hadn't so obviously ignored the kid maybe the attackers wouldn't have had the courage to think they could get away with it.

And he had ignored Jonas. The why of those actions was something he really didn't want to think about, but knew that he had to. Jonas was on his team now and by all accounts he really was a good man. In fact, he'd displayed many of the qualities that Jack admired since coming through the gate. It occurred to Jack that this wasn't the first time he'd had this exact conversation with himself.

The first time had been shortly after Daniel had joined the team. He'd been just as excitable and annoying as Jonas when he'd first started going through the gate. Jack smiled sadly at the memory. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, he'd ignored Jonas because the kid reminded him so much of Daniel, brought back all his memories of the archeologist and made Jack miss him even more.

Jack let his mind wonder over the things Sam and Teal'c had told him about Jonas. That brought on another realization, he knew next to nothing about the kid. Hell, he'd been calling him a kid since they met but for all he knew Jonas could be older than him and only look young because of his different physiology.

He was brought out of his own little world when a hand dropped onto his shoulder. Looking up he saw a slight smile on Sam's face.

"Collins gave up the other three after five minutes alone with Teal'c. Hammond's been informed and is writing up the court martials as we speak. He wants to be told when Jonas wakes up."

"Not so brave without his friends. Teal'c leave anything left for me?"

Sam's smile broadened slightly. "He and I left a few scraps for you, but you might want to wait until Collins gets a change of underwear."

Jack saw her gaze keep darting to Jonas was she spoke and another pang of guilt hit him. "You and Teal'c have become pretty good friends with him, haven't you?"

She nodded, "and I want to keep getting to know him better. Some of the stuff his brain comes up with is just so…"

"Weird," he offered up.

"Interesting," Sam shot him an amused glare. "Has he woken up yet?"

"About an hour ago, the kid's terrified of me, thinks I want him dead. Collins and his cronies told him they were doing me a favor." He spat the last words out with disgust. "I think I need to have another chat with those SOBs."

"Maybe I should be the one here when he wakes up again, might be less traumatic for him."

"No Carter, I can't let him keep thinking that I would condone what those cowards did." He continued when Sam looked skeptical, "I promise I'll be nice. Why don't you finish going through the tapes from last night, start building a case against these guys."

Sam still looked unsure, but nodded anyway. "Yes sir, call me when he wakes up please."

"Yeah-sure-you-becha."

Jonas could make out two distinct voices pulling him back to the land of the living. He recognized one of them as belonging to Col O'Neill. He wasn't sure he was ready to face the man again, but apparently they'd already seen him stir.

"Jonas, come on, time to wake up. Beauty sleep is way over-rated."

"Sam?"

"Yeah Jonas, we're here, you're safe now." Sam rubbed his shoulder gently, trying to coax his eyes open. She was glad Jack was keeping quiet for now. "We got them Jonas, you don't have to worry anymore."

"Someone else will just take over, everyone hates me here."

That statement brought Jack to his feet and his hands to the kid's shoulders. "No they don't Jonas, you have friends here." Jack winced at the mixture of disbelief and fear he saw in the other man's eyes. "Jonas, I know I've been ignoring you, it may have even seemed like I hated you, but I don't. And I sure as hell _don't_ want you dead. Jonas, I wouldn't have recommended you for the team if I didn't respect you and your abilities. When you're up for it, I'd like for us to get to know each other better." Jack stood his ground and let Jonas search his eyes for the truth. It took another thirty seconds, but Jonas finally relaxed back into the bed.

Sam was proud of her CO, he'd managed to get his point across without scaring the younger man too badly. "Jonas, just relax and go back to sleep. We'll talk when you have more energy."

Jonas nodded, but Janet made an appearance before he could fall asleep. She shooed Sam and Jack out of the room and turned to examine Jonas, he'd been through a lot since he came to Earth. "You didn't fall out of bed last month, did you," she asked as she began checking him over.

"No ma'am." Jonas blushed a bit, at least now people would know that he wasn't really the world's biggest klutz. "Dr. Fraiser, do you hate me? Please be honest."

Janet was taken aback by the question. She'd learned early on that he was a straight forward person, but this was blunt even for him. "No Jonas, I don't hate you at all, and I don't think anyone on this base really does. You just need to give people a chance to get used to you being here, but I certainly think you've made a couple of friends already. I know that at the very least, Sam, Teal'c and I would be honored to call you a friend."

Jonas rewarded her honesty with a genuine smile, not the one he used to hide his pain. "Thanks, Dr. Fraiser."

"Jonas, my friends call me Janet. Now get some sleep, I'm sure you'll have some visitors later."


	4. Chapter 4

The next time Jonas managed to drag his eyes open, Teal'c was the one watching from the bedside chair. He had the opportunity to observe Teal'c briefly as the other man had yet to realize he was awake. He vaguely remembered the conversations from the other times he'd woken; Janet had said that Teal'c was his friend, he wondered if that was true. Teal'c had been nicer to him than anyone else on the base. There were a few people who tolerated his presence, but Teal'c had actually sought out his company on a couple of occasions. That, and Teal'c really seemed to enjoy teaching him self defense. He'd been pretty proud of himself for actually inflicting some damage on his attackers the fifth time around, they'd been more careful after that.

Teal'c looked up when Jonas groaned and quickly moved to help the younger man sit up more. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Jonas forced a smile to his face; truth was, he felt like hell. "You don't have to sit here with me, I'm sure you have things to get done."

Teal'c had learned early on that Jonas had many different smiles, but he was only just learning what each one meant. The smile he was seeing now told him that Jonas was hurting and could really use a friend. "There is nothing that requires my attention more than sitting with you."

Jonas rewarded his concern with a real smile. "Thanks Teal'c. So, Maj Carter said you found the guys that have been attacking me." It came out as more of a hopeful question than a statement.

"Indeed, I just finished a most interesting conversation with them. They were escorted to the brig to await trial after Dr Fraiser completed her ministrations."

The light dimmed a bit from Jonas's eyes. "Dr. Fraiser helped them?" He tried to force his sadness away, no big deal, she was just one more person that had lied to him.

Teal'c laid a comforting hand on his arm. "She merely ensured they would survive to attend their trial. I believe she also took a small amount of pleasure in inflicting some pain when she administered the antibiotics." He smiled, glad that he wasn't the only one looking out for Jonas.

Jonas chuckled, he normally would have objected to someone getting hurt on his behalf, but this time it was just nice to know that people were looking out for him. His _friends_ had taken care of him; it'd been awhile since that had happened. His job on Kelowna had left little time for friendships. He thought back to O'Neill's statement about wanting to get to know him better. "Teal'c, how do I get Col O'Neill to like me? I have a lot of respect for him and it would mean a lot to me."

Teal'c pondered that for a second, " I believe you are closer than you think JonasQuinn. Col O'Neill was quite upset when he found you, indicating that he feels some level of respect and protectiveness toward you already. I believe that he has already realized that he has been treating you unfairly. Continue to be yourself and he will come around."

"Thanks Teal'c, your friendship and advice mean a lot to me." He held up his hand, intending for Teal'c to shake it, but was surprised when Teal'c grasped his forearm instead.

"Likewise, JonasQuinn. I will leave you to rest now. I look forward to resuming out workouts when you are well enough."

"Me too, Teal'c."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

If it wasn't for Sam's quick reflexes, Jonas would have done a rather spectacular face-plant immediately outside the infirmary door. She held him for another minute while he fumbled awkwardly with the crutches. "You sure you're not a klutz," Carter asked with a touch of humor.

Jonas just smiled sheepishly. "We don't have anything like these on Kelowna. I think they're going to take some getting used to." He winced as his fumbling pulled at his injured ribs. "Thanks, by the way."

"That's what friends are for." She caught his wince and silently wondered if Janet had given in too easily. Jonas was already living up to his role as a member of SG-1 a little too well, he'd tried every conceivable argument to talk his way out of the infirmary. Apparently he was better at it than the rest of them though, because he managed to escape after only a day and a half. Of course, Sam now had the pleasure of teaching him how to use crutches; Janet had figured she was perfect for the job since she'd used them so many times herself.

Jonas managed to pick up crutch ambulation as quickly as he did everything else. A hundred yards later he was an expert. "Would you like to get something to eat? I need something real after what they tried to feed me in there."

Sam gave him a stern look, "Janet ordered me to take you straight to your room." It only took five seconds of Jonas's puppy dog eyes before she caved, "you win, lets go." She was rewarded with a blinding smile.

Upon reaching the commissary, Jonas immediately realized he had a major problem. With both his hands occupied by the crutches, he had no way to carry a tray. He tried not to let his surprise show when Sam came to his rescue, grabbing two trays. Having friends was going to take some getting used to.

"Why don't you get us a table, I'll get your food. What do you like?"

"Everything," he admitted honestly.

Sam shook her head as she moved down the line picking out food she thought he'd like. She vaguely remembered seeing him dipping his French fries into his shake. Gah, what she wouldn't give to have his metabolism. She couldn't help but smile at the way his eyes lit up when she returned with what were apparently some of his favorite foods. She wondered at how unhappy his life must be if something like that could make him so happy. "Jonas, I owe you an apology."

His eyes widened in confusion, "for what?"

"I was so busy dealing with my grief over Daniel's death that I didn't even realize how hard things have been for you. I mean, you-"

Jonas cut her off with a raised hand. "Sam you don't owe me anything. Just having your friendship is more of a gift than I ever hoped for." He shifted uneasily; suddenly nervous with the direction the conversation had taken. "So, about the hyperdrive instability?"

"Oh no you don't, no shop talk while you're on medical leave."

Jonas looked over Sam's shoulder at Jack, wondering if he'd ever understand half of what the man was saying, "Shop talk?"

Sam chuckled at his confused look, "he means, we're not allowed to talk about work. Have a seat, sir."

"Don't mind if I do. How are you feeling Jonas?" Jack tried to let his voice relay his genuine interest and concern.

"I'm fine Col, thank you for asking."

Damn, was there always going to be that fear in the kid's eyes when he looked at Jack. "That's good to hear. I thought you might be interested in this." He gently laid an ornate chess board on the table.

The Kelownan immediately disregarded his fear of the Col in favor of examining the board in great detail. He recognized many of the carvings from Dr Jackson's notes. "Sir, this must be at least a millennia old. Those carvings are of the Greek Goddess-"

"I know Jonas, Daniel told me all about it a couple of years ago. Have you played chess since you've been here?"

"Chess, no sir, I haven't."

"Good, maybe I'll actually win a game or two then."

Carter took that as her cue to leave, the two men had a lot to talk about. "Well, I'm beat. I'll see you tomorrow Jonas, good night sir."

"Night Sam, and thanks." He turned back to the board as Jack began setting out the pieces. "So, how do you play sir?"

The Col quickly explained the basic rules and premise of the game. They played the first game in near silence, but it was the most comfortable silence that had ever existed between the two men. Jack sighed with relief when he won the game, barely; the kid picked things up way too damn fast. "You up for another game?"

"Yes sir, maybe I'll be able to beat you this time," Jonas tried with a cautious smile.

"Yeah, you probably will. At least I managed to beat you once, Daniel won every game he and I ever played on this board." Jack quickly tried to rectify his mistake when he saw the fear and hurt invade Jonas's bright green eyes. "You're actually a lot like Daniel, and believe it or not, that's a good thing."

Jonas tried not to blush at the obvious compliment, "it is?"

"Oh yeah, see Daniel was one of my best friends. The fact that you're so much like him means that you're also the type of person I could become good friends with." The light that came to the kid's eyes seemed to fill the slightest bit of the hole that had been left in his heart by Daniel's ascension.

"Really?"

"Yeah Jonas, really. But I gotta ask, how old are you?"

Jonas chuckled, wondering how many times he'd been asked that particular question. People always thought he looked way too young to have achieved the things he had. "I'm 41, sir."

Jack's face registered his complete shock, "Wha-"

"Of course, that's in Kelownan years. Let's see, one Kelownan year is roughly two-thirds of an Earth year, so that would make me 25 this planet."

Jack's eyes receded back into his head at that. "That's more like it. So, you like hockey?"

Three games later, Jack was watching the kid's eyes drift closed. Unfortunately, even half asleep Jonas was still kicking his ass. "Ok, time for bed. Come on, I'll walk you home." Jack wondered if Jonas would get the underlying connotation of that statement. They quickly packed up the chess board and headed for the VIP quarters.

"I really appreciate you teaching me chess sir."

"No problem, I enjoyed getting my ass handed too me the last three games." Jack opened the door and ushered Jonas into his own room. "You need help with anything, you know, getting ready for bed and all?"

"No sir, I think I'll manage." He picked up the chess board from his desk where Jack had set it down. "Don't forget your board, sir."

"Why don't you hang on to that, I think Daniel would like you to have it. Rematch tomorrow night?" We can invite Sam and Teal'c too if you want."

"I'd like that sir."


End file.
